By Abbas Nazil
The worsening energy crisis in Dutse Local Government Area in Jigawa State has driven local residents to destroy living trees within a vital forested area that serves as their primary firewood source, drawing strong condemnation from environmentalists and foresters.
What started as a humanitarian gesture to allow access to dried and fallen wood has escalated to the systematic killing of healthy trees—exposing the painful gap between clean energy ambitions and rural energy realities in Nigeria.
The forested land, which has long supported environmental conservation and practical land use, was opened to residents for firewood collection to alleviate hardship, particularly during the dry season when fuel needs intensify.
Initially limited to collecting only dried and dead wood, community members have now resorted to ring barking or girdling living trees—a harmful method that kills the tree by cutting off its nutrient flow, eventually making it usable as firewood. This act has led to significant damage.
Tree stands across the area now show widespread signs of bark stripping, premature death, and environmental stress.
Forestry experts and environmentalists have expressed deep concern over the trend, warning that this unchecked exploitation is undermining years of ecological restoration and carbon sequestration efforts.
“This isn’t just about firewood—it’s about survival, and that’s exactly why it’s so dangerous,” one local forester said.
“When people are forced to choose between cooking a meal and protecting a tree, they will choose survival.
“But this also means the forest won’t survive, and neither will we in the long run.”
The deforestation is not only shrinking tree cover but also exposing the landscape to soil erosion, biodiversity loss, and a sharp decline in ecological services.
Environmental advocates argue that the destruction mirrors the growing failure to meet Sustainable Development Goal 7, which aims for universal access to clean and affordable energy.
In Dutse and many similar communities across Nigeria, firewood remains the only viable energy option.
Clean energy alternatives such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), solar cookers, or biogas remain unaffordable or inaccessible.
As a result, the burden of survival is placed on nearby forests, converting them into lifelines for cooking and heating.
Environmentalists and foresters are now calling for urgent interventions: controlled and monitored access to forest resources, intensified sensitization campaigns on sustainable firewood practices, and most importantly, the introduction of clean cooking technologies that will reduce the community’s dependence on forests.
Without these steps, they warn, the destruction of this forested sourcing area could spell long-term ecological disaster and further derail Nigeria’s climate and energy goals.
